


Tears of Thousands Flowing from My Guitar

by Rider_of_Spades



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Cultural Differences, Diaspora, Discrimination, Gen, Headcanon, Inspired by Music, Romani Dick Grayson, Social Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 12:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25969867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rider_of_Spades/pseuds/Rider_of_Spades
Summary: "This is a long road, there are sores on my backThe tears of thousands of people are flowing from my guitar"-Joci Pápai, OrigoHow Dick Grayson became an advocate for Romani rights.
Kudos: 127





	Tears of Thousands Flowing from My Guitar

**Author's Note:**

> This story was created with the encouragement and help of Airdanteine. Thanks, Air!

It’s not a completely known fact that Dick Grayson follows Eurovision, but of course he does. He loves Eurovision as much as he loves pop music in general and Crocky Crunch, and listens to every national entry every year since he first came to know about it. 

And so it is a matter of fate that he comes across this song on Youtube: 

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-7ETxsPiMY>

He doesn't understand a word of the Hungarian, but suddenly the chorus comes on and it's _Romani_ , it's his language. Out of curiosity, he goes to search for the English translation of the Hungarian parts …and finds out it's a song lamenting the fate of the Romani.

This is the first time he experiences that strange disconnected feeling of numbness where there should be sadness and anger.

However, he shoves this discomfort aside at first after being confronted with it through the song. He decides his work as Nightwing saving Bludhaven is much more important.

But then, there’s this one time he flies over to Europe for a mission and as a cover, he pretends he's vacationing as Bruce Wayne's heir. Somehow the paparazzi catch wind of it at an airport. He's inwardly cursing but handling it with charm and grace per usual when a journalist shoves her way through. It's some impassioned intern for a human rights group magazine, and she poses him a very difficult question: as one of Bruce Wayne's heirs, he's one of the most powerful and visible representatives for the Romani in the DC world. Why is he not doing more for his downtrodden heritage? Dick's very taken aback, but doesn't actually have to answer the question as the journalist gets escorted away roughly.

That night, he starts dreaming of his mother again, and snatches of Romani lullabies.

Then, a few days into his 'holiday', he gets a bit lost because he doesn't understand the local language. He tries approaching some random person and their kid for directions but the person throws a filthy look at him and leads their child away. They talk to the child in the same incomprehensible local language Dick doesn't understand, but he catches one word: 'gypsy'.

That night when he goes out as Nightwing, he's a little distracted and angry and frustrated and uncomfortable and a million other feelings he can't name. He does his job as vigilante well, but it does not scratch the itch.

Things come to a head his final night in Europe. He's simply strolling around as a tourist this time, admiring the sights when he hears some sounds down an alleyway: it's a bunch of thugs harassing an old woman and a boy. He starts threatening the thugs loudly in English that he'll call the police if they do not stop, and they leave. The boy turns to him angrily and sneers while looking up and down at this rich American tourist. He says to Dick in heavily accented English that they do not need his help. Then he turns to the old woman and speaks to her gently in the Romani language. It's a dialect different from Dick's mother tongue, but still recognisably Romani.

And Dick. Just answers curtly back in his own Romani dialect without thinking. The old woman and boy stare back at him, and Dick notices now how their skin tones, how the shape of their eyes are somewhat similar to _his._

Now, Dick's mom was French Romani, so he probably still had blood family somewhere out there in the world. That's most likely lost to Dick forever though: even with Bruce Wayne's money and Batman's connections, he can never find them back.

And it's honestly, probably not a big deal to him? His family's the Batclan now. Even his Romani is kinda rusty and he has only the faintest memories of his mother's cooking. (Alfred tries, but it's just not the same.)

So his first instinct is to flee but as he turns to run away, the old woman barks out something in Romani at him. The boy turns to her and they have a conversation (argument? It sounds like an argument) while Dick halts in confusion. Finally, the boy looks at him again and grumbles out, "She says if you're going to help us, you might as well walk us home. Just to be safe." The boy still looks at him sullenly but there's now curiosity in his eyes that he can't quite hide.

And so Dick escorts them (very uncomfortably) home. The whole way the old woman tries to engage him in conversation in Romani, but Dick can only make out a few words here and there and struggles to answer her with his rusty Romani in a different dialect. He's not sure if he's relieved that he can't seem to understand everything, or annoyed that the boy refuses to play translator again.

Home is... a bunch of weather-beaten tents by the edges of the city. Dick is not surprised or shocked, but he finds himself oddly... saddened. Another woman, much younger than the old lady comes out of one tent as two younger children stop their playing and peer at Dick curiously. She exchanges words with the boy and old woman and hugs them before turning to Dick to offer him thanks in halting English.

Dick surveys the scene one last time. His one glimpse into the dusty memories of his past, but also not. There's even something cooking next to the tents that smells faintly familiar.

For a second, a sense of nostalgia hits him so strong he can't breathe. His eyes would be watering now if not for Bat training. He blinks and digs out his wallet, offers them all the Euros in his pocket. It isn't a large sum to him, but the younger woman's eyes widen as she loudly protests. The boy though, wastes no time in taking the money. Another argument ensues in Romani, before Dick says that it's alright.

The woman tells him to wait before ducking into the tents. She comes out with something wrapped in a newspaper, a little food to thank Dick. Dick almost refuses but. It's been a long day. A long week, even. He smiles at her tiredly and thanks her in his own Romani before leaving.

The food, when he eats it back in his hotel room, is not much like his mother's at all, but still better than Alfred's. There's an undercurrent of herbs that feels so familiar that it's tickling his memory. It's a little too salty. Maybe that's due to the fact it's seasoned with his tears.

He's supposed to be on the private jet home the next morning, but suddenly he feels so homesick that he texts Bruce to let him know he's coming back early. After reassuring the man there's no emergency, he books a red-eye commercial flight home, but he can barely sleep on the plane. His mind keeps replaying all that has happened during his past week in Europe.

The journalist at the airport, particularly, bothers him. What was he, as one of Bruce Wayne's heirs, one of the richest and most powerful people in the world, doing for his downtrodden heritage? Did he even have a right to do something for the Romani people, considering how removed he was from his heritage?

And Dick was no fool; he knew that blindly plying money at the problem alone wouldn't solve all the social and institutional discrimination the Romani faced. But, the part that made him Robin, that made him Nightwing whispered, how could he not learn what was happening after all this, how could he not try?

He goes to search for the Hungarian Eurovision song again, and finds it just in time to listen to it once before he falls asleep.


End file.
